The present invention relates to a pressure container for batch-wise gasification of liquid, said container including a container filling opening in the upper part of said container, a float arrangement mounted in the container for closing the filling opening at a given level of liquid in the container, a dispensing opening, and a gas nozzle which discharges into the container.
Pressure containers of this kind are intended particularly for use in appliances employed in the production of carbonized beverages, for instance in the home. Known appliances that include such a container are described in WO 82/04243, WO 82/04244 and WO 84/00352.
The appliances according to these publications include a plastic pressure container. As is evident from FIG. 1 of WO 84/00352, the container includes an upper top part 11 into which there is screwed a lower cylindrical part 4. Two container parts are necessary in order to be able to fit the components in the container. Consequently, in order to obtain a safe appliance high demands are placed on the screw connection between the two container parts, therewith complicating and adding to the expense of such appliances.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a pressure container that can be used in appliances of the aforedescribed kind while fulfilling the safety requirements that may be placed on such a container. The mechanical strength of the container shall not be impaired with time and the container shall be hygienic in use.
The invention is based on the understanding that these objects can be realized with a steel pressure vessel in the form of an indivisible container that has as few and as small openings as possible, this in view of the fact that all openings constitute weakenings in the construction.
Because it is desired to use small openings in the pressure vessel, the invention must also solve the problem of enabling those components that are to be located inside the vessel, among other things the float arrangement, to be fitted to said vessel.
The particular characteristic features of a pressure container of the kind defined in the first paragraph are that the container is indivisible and provided with a side-wall opening, that the gas nozzle is fixed in a mounting base that can be inserted into the container through said opening and locked firmly in a position in which the edges of the mounting base lie in sealing engagement with the inner container surface surrounding said opening, and that the part of the mounting base located on the inside of the container is provided with means for pivotal attachment of the float arrangement.
A container of this kind may be made of steel. This provides a container which has a high mechanical strength that will not be impaired with time and which will also be very hygienic in use. The combination of the float arrangement with the gas nozzle mounting base also solves the problem of mounting the float in the container.
It is preferred that the mounting base has a configuration which will enable the base with the float affixed thereto to be inserted through the opening in the centre part of the container in a specific orientation relative to said opening, and to enable the base to be turned in the container and caused to fully cover the opening with the edge portion of the base pressed sealingly against the inner container surface surrounding said opening with a force that increases with the pressure in the container.
In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the container side wall is generally circular-cylindrical and merges with a dome-shaped bottom part that has a central dispenser opening and the gas nozzle is directed so that the gas jet will strike the inner container wall over a part that lies generally at the transition between said parts and the central dispensing opening.